Tell them to pay their way through community college, then pay their way through the closest 4-year college.
Don't tell us we owe them a bailout for ignorant decisions they made.
Ya, what happened to the concept of working your way through college?
I may get flamed, but, I think part of the issue is that money is a taboo topic. Families and their students do not ever sit down and have frank discussions about family finances, or talk about how these loans will have to be repaid. Some families tell their kids to reach for their dreams at whatever private university they choose, and never think about how it gets paid for. Getting loans defers the day of reckoning on the money side of things.
Another matter is that so many people are enamored of sending their kids to Harvard and Yale and other expensive private universities, regardless of cost. This ties in with borrowing and not thinking about how these loans ever get repaid. Going to the state university is beneath certain “yuppie” types. My God, they need to go to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or Princeton, not old State U.
Financially, the best way for most middle class people to go to college is to work their way through. It might take them longer than the standard four years to get a degree, but financially, they will be much better off at the end.
There are also ancillary benefits to working your way through college. If you have to be responsible about studying and your work schedule, you learn some good life lessons along the way. Some college kids have too much time on their hands, and go out drinking and God knows what else when not in class.